The National Tuberculosis Centre (NTC), Thimi has started the hunt for tracking down 10,000 unreported tuberculosis cases.

NTC Director Dr Rajendra Panta said the centre has started looking out for tuberculosis patients who are yet to come into contact with the centre and the unidentified cases.

In this connection, the centre has mobilized its employees equipped with microscope to every settlement to track down the missing TB patients and new ones, Dr Panta said, adding that the centre has started this campaign of tracking down TB cases in each and every village in the remote districts, rather than the more accessible districts.

“The centre has mobilized TB Diagnosis Teams through its 554 centres throughout the country. The results of the sputum tests would be available within 90 minutes of carrying out the test.”

The centre is also planning to mobilize the mothers' groups in the villages for this purpose. Machines have been kept at 22 different places for carrying out sputum tests that can give results within minutes and there is also a plan to keep such machines at seven more places, he said.

It is estimated that the number of TB patients in the country stands at 45,000. However, only 36,000 patients are being treated and the rest have not come into contact of the health authorities. Similarly, 700 cases of TB combined with HIV/AIDS are being treated.